A/N: Not much to be said here: welcome Izzy's perspective of The Dapper Thief and Ballad of The Fallen crossover. I consider this non-cannon for the purposes of Ballad of The Fallen.

Izzy landed on the other side of the wall with a small thud. Shaking off the pain, he stood up and observed his surroundings. He had left early in the day than originally planned, and small specks of orange still dotted the sky as the sun adamantly refused to set for the night. Izzy stiffened when he heard approaching footsteps, and ducked behind a trash can, discreetly peering through the small open slot at the top. What he saw was baffling to say the least; it was a human. He was walking alone, a small black bag held low to his side, and he was mumbling to himself.

Feeling conflicted, Izzy stepped out from his hiding spot and called out to him. Twirling around, Izzy could see his face etched with emotions that changed from startled to curiosity. "And who the hell are you supposed to be?" He spat, a smirk evident on his face. "Guess those creatures were lying bout' extinction now, weren't they?"

Izzy was shocked; he obviously was referencing the squid creatures whom Izzy had seen multiple times, and did he mention extinction? Not entirely sure how he even communicated with them, (as he spoke English with a thick british accent), he resorted to sputtering out the only thing he could think of. "What's in the bag?" Izzy bit his tongue and knew he set the man off, as his eyes constricted and he snarled "What's it to you?" Izzy gulped, there obviously was no peaceful way out of this.

Izzy knew he was in a bad spot, the guy obviously wasn't out to make friends, and the look he was giving was anything but tame. Gathering confidence, he drew himself up to full height and looked him straight in the face. "I said, what's in the bag? You seem to be the only person walking around the plaza besides me, and you are half-concealing it."

The man stepped closer, voice quieting to a threatening whisper. "And if there was something that displeased you, what are you going to do about it?" Gritting his teeth and resisting the urge to knock his out, he simply said "Stop you."

The man grinned widely. "Oh, and why and how would you do that?" Izzy glared at him "I already know that answer, but I'm going to state the obvious, is that a stolen item?" The man said "Just a small loan I borrowed to pay for rent... nothing special." Izzy had received his answer; now it was time for action. Narrowing his eyebrows, he said "Maybe I should return what you borrowed for you, after all, wouldn't want it getting missed."

Time seemed to slow down for Izzy, his breathing seemed slower and he could see the man's left hand reaching for something concealed under his coat. Izzy tensed, and the man had begun to draw his weapon, Izzy's arm snapped out, enclosed around the man's wrist, and twisted hard.

Izzy had been right; at least partially. It more or less looked like he was trying to pull a foam dart gun on him than anything else, none the less, he increased the pressure, and hearing a sharp *CRACK* he knew he broke at least one bone in his hand. The weapon clattered to the ground as the man looked at him with a mixture of anger and pain. Kicking Izzy sharply in the knee, he released his grip, taking no real damage from the attack.

Izzy grumbled before attempting to get him to surrender "Drop the bag and go back to where you came from, nothing else in your body has to get hurt!."

"Go to hell!" The man shouted before pulling an actual handgun on Izzy. He fired two shots, aimed at his legs thankfully, and... missed completely. The man blinked, and even Izzy was shocked at how fast he had moved. Rushing towards him, he dodged bullet after bullet until only a soft *click* was heard from the gun.

Grumbling in anger, the man pulled out what looked like a triangular prism filled with paint before throwing it am him. Izzy dropped to his knees, hands covering his face as the makeshift bomb exploded, covering Izzy with a weird slimy substance. Wiping his eyes and standing up, he was about to finish it when - the man was gone. Izzy twirled, checking every direction, but sure enough, he was nowhere in sight.

Hissing fiercely, Izzy withdrew to a side alley, brushing the weird liquid off himself.

Izzy hid out in the alleyway throughout the night, his pride more wounded than anything else. Catching only small streaks of sleep, he rubbed his eyes as he noticed the plaza starting to liven up. Inklings were going about whatever business inklings did; while Izzy watched passively.

A loud ringing resounded through the plaza, garnering the attention of the majority of the inklings in the plaza. A logo flashed on and off the screen, before a shot of a studio with two female inklings appearing. "Hold on to your tentacles…." One began.

"It's Inkopolis news time!" The other finished.

"You may be wondering what has caused our early newscast…"

"And it's a big shocker!"

"There is a thief loose in inkopolis!"

"Police believe the string of crimes are related, but who can be sure?"

"Check back later when we reveal the battle stages for today!"

"And as always…"

"Stay Fresh!" the duo ended together.

Izzy stood up, grimacing at the task ahead of him. He had met the same thief, he was sure of it. And it was his job to stop him.